We love our soap! We have always enjoyed a variety of hand crafts, including quilting, scrapbooking, woodworking, knitting, and spinning. Back in 2003, when we first thought of adding cold-process soap-making to our craft skills, it never occurred to us that we were about to find the answers to our troubling skin sensitivities.

Little did we know that many bath bars are detergent, not soap! If the ingredients include soap at all, they also include lots of unnecessary synthetic additives. Further, the moisturizing glycerin that should be in the soap is actually removed and sold as a by-product. Real, pure soap combines natural oils, lye, and water, with glycerin forming in the chemical reaction. By making my own soap, my skin could enjoy a pampering cleansing, not the harsh cleansing that it had been subjected to.

Now, even with our hard water and dry mid-western winters, we are able to enjoy scented and naturally colored soap without suffering any irritating consequences. I will admit, though, I still employ lotion on those driest of days, and other times, just because it feels good and smells delicious.

The Straddle Creek Soap Shop is a small family run business situated in beautiful Northwest Illinois. Our home-based shop is surrounded by rolling hills, limestone bluffs, and of course, the Straddle Creek. We are blessed and awed by God's creation.

We share our home with dogs, cats, and angora rabbits--our lovable spinning-fiber producers. The garden and weeds keep us all company, and are a source of some of our herbal additives.

Pamper your skin. Enjoy the pure luxury of real, handmade soap.